STATE  CONTROL  OF  STATE  HOSPITAL  LIBRARIES. 


; /' 


By  EDITH  KATHLEEN  JONES, 

Librarian  at  McLean  Hospital,  Waverley,  Massachusetts. 


Reprinted  from 

AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  INSANITY 
Vol.  LXVIII,  No.  4,  April,  1912 


REMOTE  STORAGE 


STATE  CONTROL  OF  STATE  HOSPITAL  LIBRARIES. 

By  EDITH  KATHLEEN  JONES, 

Librarian  at  McLean  Hospital,  Waverley,  Massachusetts. 

In  a previous  paper  * statistics  were  given  from  ninety-six  hos- 
pitals concerning  their  libraries.  With  these  statistics  came  many 
letters  from  the  various  superintendents  deploring  their  scarcity 
of  books  and  their  lack  of  trained  librarians,  and  giving  as  the 
reason  the  want  of  funds  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  This  reason 
strikes  at  the  root  of  the  matter,  for  a good,  readable  library  cannot 
be  maintained  without  a liberal  appropriation  for  the  purpose  and 
the  supervision  of  someone  who  knows  books.  A mere  collection 
of  books  donated  from  the  attics  of  friendly  patrons  does  not  con- 
stitute a library  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  and  it  is  safe  to 
assume  that  if  we  ourselves  relegated  these  volumes  to  the  attics 
because  we  did  not  care  to  read  them  when  we  were  well  and  out  in 
the  world,  we  need  not  expect  our  friends  to  hail  them  with  delight 
when  they  are  sick  and  in  hospital.  And  while  the  first  assistant 
physician,  the  stenographer,  or  even  the  janitor  may  be  able  to  give 
out  books  quite  satisfactorily  in  addition  to  his  other  duties,  he  can 
hardly  be  as  efficient  as  a trained  librarian  who  devotes  her  whole 
time  to  the  problem  of  building  up  the  library. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  cannot  blame  the  state  if  it  does  not  see 
the  necessity  for  providing  libraries  and  librarians  in  eleven  state 
hospitals  (as  in  little  Massachusetts)  or  in  sixteen  (as  in  larger 
New  York),  or  even  in  the  three  or  four  of  some  of  the  Southern 
States,  at  an  annual  cost  of  not  less  than  $800  each,  including 
books,  periodicals,  binding  and  librarian’s  salary.  It  is  obvious 
that  in  some  states  the  cost  would  be  enormous,  and,  indeed, 
prohibitive. 

But  with  these  letters  came  two  from  Iowa  and  Minnesota  sug- 
gesting a way  of  escape  so  thoroughly  reasonable,  modern  and 
altogether  obvious  that  one  wonders  that  every  state  in  the  union 

* Libraries  for  the  Patients  in  Hospitals  for  the  Insane.  By  Edith 
Kathleen  Jones.  Am.  J.  of  Insanity,  LXVIII,  No.  1,  July,  1911. 


710  STATE  CONTROL  OF  STATE  HOSPITAL  LIBRARIES  [April 

did  not  long  ago  solve  its  institutional  library  problems  along  the 
same  lines.  In  Iowa  the  “ Board  of  Control  ” has  assumed  the 
charge  of  all  state  institution  libraries,  sending  its  own  librarian 
to  organize  and  catalogue  them  and  give  training  and  advice  to 
those  in  charge.  Minnesota  has  met  her  problem  a little  differ- 
ently ; her  Public  Library  Commission  sends  out  the  organizer,  who, 
in  addition  to  the  work  done  in  Iowa,  is  allowed  to  select  traveling 
libraries  for  the  institutions.  These  two  states  seem  to  have  been 
the  pioneers  in  this  cooperative  movement,  but  several  others  in 
the  west  have  followed  suit.  Indiana  stands  ready  to  offer  the 
services  of  her  Public  Library  Commission  to  the  hospitals  as  well 
as  other  state  institutions,  though  she  was  never  called  upon  for 
help  in  the  former  till  January,  1912.  In  Nebraska,  the  last  legis- 
lature made  a direct  appropriation  to  the  Public  Library  Commission 
for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  libraries  in  the  various 
state  institutions,  the  money  to  be  spent  entirely  at  the  discretion 
of  the  library  commission.  They  have  already  bought  about  three 
hundred  volumes  for  each  of  their  three  hospitals,  and  will  build 
up  the  individual  libraries  rather  than  try  the  traveling  library 
plan.  Wisconsin  finds  the  same  problem — few  books  and  no  or- 
ganization; as  her  Free  Library  Commission  has  no  funds  at  its 
disposal  for  institutions,  it  can  help  only  by  reorganizing  such 
libraries  as  already  exist  and  giving  training  and  advice. 

These  are  only  a few  of  the  states  in  which  interest  has  been 
aroused  in  the  library  question  in  state  institutions,  but  they  seem 
to  be  about  the  only  ones  which  are  including  the  hospitals  and 
asylums  in  the  scheme.  Many  other  states  are  providing  reading 
matter  for  their  prisoners,  but  as  yet  the  old  idea  seems  to  prevail, 
that  insanity  means  imbecility  and  therefore  the  inmates  of  the 
state  hospitals  are  incapable  of  any  mentality. 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  all  these  states  except  Iowa  the  Public 
Library  Commission  has  simply  added  the  state  institutions  to  its 
list  for  supervision,  traveling  libraries,  etc.,  and  in  the  western 
states,  where  the  hospitals  as  well  as  the  town  libraries  are  com- 
paratively few  and  the  territory  large,  this  would  seem  to  be  the 
best  plan.  But  in  our  smaller,  more  crowded  eastern  states,  where 
the  library  commissions  are  already  over-taxed  to  fill  the  demands 
upon  them,  the  addition  of  from  eight  to  sixteen  special  libraries 
means  another  burden  involving  much  extra  labor  and  at  least 


1912] 


* EDITH  KATHLEEN  JONES 


7 ii 

one  more  librarian.  It  would  seem  that  in  such  states  the  Board  of 
Insanity,  or  its  equivalent,  should  assume  entire  charge  of  this 
branch,  hire  its  own  librarian,  and  develop  its  own  institutional  and 
traveling  libraries,  of  which  it  should  have  complete  control.  Its 
librarian  should  visit  each  hospital  in  turn;  put  in  order  what 
books  there  are;  add  new  ones  at  her  discretion;  advise  the  as- 
sistant in  each  hospital  regarding  the  best  ways  of  interesting  the 
patients  in  reading ; select  and  buy  traveling  libraries  composed  of 
biography,  illustrated  books  of  travel,  out-door  books,  popular 
science  comprising  books  on  birds,  flowers,  trees,  animals,  as- 
tronomy, etc.  This  institutional  librarian  should  have  her  head- 
quarters at  a center,  either  at  the  State  House  or  in  one  of  the  most 
accessible  state  hospitals,  and  keep  her  records  there. 

The  traveling  libraries  should  be  sent  from  the  center  and  re- 
turned to  the  center.  The  public  libraries  have  so  thoroughly 
demonstrated  that  any  efforts  to  reduce  expense  of  transportation 
by  transferring  from  one  point  to  another  without  going  back  to 
the  center  only  results  in  loss  and  damage  and  irresponsibility, 
that  it  is  useless  to  try  any  other  system — unless  the  librarian  trans- 
fers both  the  center  and  herself  for  the  time  being  to  that  hospital 
which  is  to  send  out  the  traveling  library.  At  the  center,  the  books 
would  be  unpacked,  checked,  cleaned  up,  rebound  if  necessary,  and 
got  ready  for  the  next  hospital.  Strong  packing  boxes  holding 
about  sixty  books,  with  handles  on  the  sides  and  strongly  hinged 
and  padlocked  lids,  are  not  expensive  and  are  easily  packed  and 
handled.  They  could  be  made  at  one  of  the  hospitals,  and  possibly 
the  books  might  be  rebound  at  one  of  the  state  institutions,  thus 
saving  a little  in  cost.  The  length  of  time  allowed  each  of  these 
libraries  in  a hospital  would  depend  somewhat  upon  the  number 
of  reading  patients,  but  probably  would  average  about  three 
months. 

An  objection  to  this  plan  will  at  once  be  made  that  three  months 
is  a long  time  to  wait  for  new  fiction.  This  may  easily  be  met  by 
buying  the  three  or  four  best  books  of  each  month  in  such  quantities 
that  each  hospital  may  have  one  or  more  copies  immediately  for  its 
individual  library.  And  after  the  traveling  libraries  have  gone  the 
rounds,  they  too  might  be  distributed  among  the  various  hospitals. 
In  this  way  each  hospital  would  be  adding  little  by  little  to  its  own 
collection. 


712  STATE  CONTROL  OF  STATE  HOSPITAL  LIBRARIES  [April 

As  to  the  selection  of  books,  what  was  said  in  the  paper  referred 
to  above  concerning  the  sort  of  reading  for  hospital  libraries 
applies  equally  to  this  plan.  All  fiction  should  be  censored,  that 
nothing  morbid  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the  patients.  This  is  one 
very  good  reason  why  the  State  Boards  of  Insanity  should  have 
control  rather  then  the  Public  Library  Commissions.  In  those 
states  in  which  supervision  of  the  prison  and  reformatory  as  well 
as  the  hospital  libraries  is  in  the  hands  of  the  institution  librarian, 
separate  traveling  libraries  for  fiction  should  be  maintained,  al- 
though the  other  books,  especially  those  in  biography,  travel  and  the 
handicrafts  would  be  equally  interesting  and  valuable  to  both 
classes. 

There  is  one  point  which  cannot  be  over-emphasized : the  need 
of  an  intelligent  assistant  in  each  hospital  who  is  well-read  and 
knows  books,  and  who,  if  not  already  trained  in  library  methods, 
is  capable  of  receiving  suggestions  and  of  being  interested  in  the 
work.  Anyone  can  give  out  books,  but  not  everyone  can  give  them 
out  intelligently,  and  only  the  trained  librarian  can  appreciate  the 
vast  amount  of  wasted  energy  represented  in  a library  which  is 
not  kept  up.  Of  course  the  ideal  situation  is  that  in  which  each 
hospital  has  its  own  library  and  trained  librarian,  but  as  has  already 
been  stated,  this  is  often  impossible  in  state  institutions  because  of 
the  expense  involved.  But  a compromise  might  be  effected.  In 
most  hospitals  the  stenographer  has  charge  of  the  books  in  addition 
to  her  own  duties.  Why  not  employ,  instead,  a trained  librarian 
who  is  also  a stenographer?  The  library  schools  throughout  the 
country  are  graduating  just  such  girls  every  year — girls  college- 
bred  and  trained  to  use  their  brains ; trained  too,  not  only  in  library 
work  proper,  but  also  in  shorthand,  typewriting,  and  the  modern 
methods  of  filing  which  are  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  hospital 
superintendent  with  his  innumerable  letters,  bonds,  case-records, 
reports  of  other  hospitals,  etc.,  all  of  which  must  be  kept  ready  for 
reference  at  a moment’s  notice.  Such  a business-trained,  intelli- 
gent woman  would  be  able  to  attend  satisfactorily  to  both  branches 
of  hospital  service,  and  her  salary  would  be  but  little  more  than  that 
of  the  average  stenographer  who  knows  only  her  own  branch. 
And  the  institution  librarian  would  breathe  freely  while  upon  her 
rounds,  knowing  that  she  left  behind  her  a person  who  would  co- 
operate intelligently  with  her  efforts  to  reach  the  patients. 


1912] 


EDITH  KATHLEEN  JONES 


713 


Besides  providing  books  and  trained  service  for  the  patients  in 
these  state  hospitals,  this  scheme  might  well  be  enlarged  to  also  in- 
clude the  medical  department.  Of  course  there  are  certain  books 
on  psychiatry,  psychology  and  general  medicine  which  should  be 
in  every  hospital  for  the  immediate  use  of  the  medical  staff ; but 
there  are  many  others  to  which  it  is  desirable  to  have  access  from 
time  to  time,  which  are  too  expensive  or  not  enough  used  to  dupli- 
cate. It  might  be  well  for  the  librarian  to  keep  a catalogue  of  all 
the  medical  books  in  the  different  hospitals,  add  to  them  upon 
recommendation  of  the  various  superintendents,  and  upon  demand 
to  send  any  book  to  any  other  hospital  in  the  state.  This  would  be 
especially  advantageous  for  those  hospitals  which  are  not  near  any 
of  the  large  medical  libraries,  and  would  prevent  duplicating. 
Then,  too,  some  of  the  medical  periodicals,  especially  the  more 
expensive  foreign  ones,  might  be  subscribed  to  by  the  state,  the 
institution  librarian  ordering,  receiving,  checking  and  sending 
them  in  turn  to  the  various  hospitals  for  a week  or  so  at  a time. 
The  bound  volumes  of  these  could  be  distributed  among  the  differ- 
ent hospitals,  each  having  one  or  more  sets. 

The  advantages  of  this  scheme  of  state  control  are  many,  but  it 
will  readily  be  seen  that  the  post  of  institution  librarian  is  no  sine- 
cure and  should  be  well  paid.  This  brings  us  to  the  cost  of  or- 
ganized, centralized,  cooperative  state  control  versus  duplicated, 
individual  libraries.  In  1910,  thirty-six  out  of  sixty  hospitals  in 
the  United  States  claiming  to  have  libraries  paid  $4725  for  books 
and  periodicals  for  their  patients — an  average  of  $132  per  hospital. 
The  other  twenty-four  did  not  add  one  cent’s  worth  of  reading 
matter,  so  far  as  could  be  learned,  except  what  was  given  them. 
Just  half  of  these  thirty-six  hospitals  paid  $100  or  over,  two  of 
them  reaching  $500,  and  the  other  eighteen  ranged  from  $25  to 
$75  each.  Now  it  is  perfectly  apparent  that  not  much  can  be  done 
in  any  one  hospital  in  the  way  of  books  and  magazines  for  $132 — 
still  less  for  $25.  But  we  will  suppose  a state  maintaining  ten  hos- 
pitals and  asylums  expending  on  each  $130  for  reading  matter — 
an  aggregate  of  $1300.  For  that  amount  an  institution  librarian 
could  purchase  about  800  volumes  for  the  use  of  all  ten  hospitals 
instead  of  eighty  books  for  each.  Now  suppose  each  of  these  ten 
hospitals  employed  a librarian  in  addition  to  its  stenographer ; their 
combined  salaries  would  add  about  $5000  a year  to  the  state  ex- 


714  STATE  CONTROL  OF  STATE  HOSPITAL  LIBRARIES  [April 

penses.  As  a matter  of  fact,  however,  a good  library  with  a compe- 
tent librarian  should  cost  at  least  $800  a year  exclusive  of  medical 
books  and  periodicals,  or  $8000  in  our  supposed  state  of  ten  hos- 
pitals. On  the  other  hand,  for  from  $3000  to  $4000  a year,  this 
same  state  could  maintain  one  first-class  institution  librarian ; ten 
traveling  libraries  of  about  sixty  volumes  each ; about  400  volumes 
of  new  fiction  divided  as  soon  as  published  among  the  ten  hospitals ; 
the  best  current  periodicals;  medical  books  and  periodicals;  the 
expenses  of  binding  and  expressage — and  give  efficient  service  and 
equal  advantages  to  each  hospital.  Further,  by  replacing  the 
stenographer  with  a librarian  who  is  able  to  combine  the  two 
offices — which  would  be  quite  possible  where  the  state  takes 
charge  of  the  buying,  cataloging,  classifying,  etc.,  thus  relieving 
the  hospital  librarians  of  the  duties  which  take  the  most  time — the 
extra  salaries  of  individual  librarians  in  addition  to  stenographers 
would  be  saved. 

Therefore,  as  a matter  of  economy  as  well  as  of  increased  effi- 
ciency, organized  state  control  would  seem  to  present  the  most 
practicable  means  of  maintaining  our  institution  libraries. 


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The  American  Journal  of  Insanity 


The  American  Journal  of  Insanity,  the  official  or- 
gan of  the  American  Medico-Psychological  Association, 
is  now  in  its  sixty-eighth  volume.  Its  editorial  control 
is  in  the  hands  of  a committee  of  the  American  Medico- 
Psychological  Association,  consisting  of  Henry  M. 
Hurd,  M. D.,  and  E.  N.  Brush,  M. D.,  of  Baltimore; 
G.  Alder  Blumer,  M.  D.,  of  Providence,  R.  I. ; J.  Mont- 
gomery Mosher,  M.  D.,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  Charles 
K.  Clarke,  M.  D.,  of  Toronto,  Ontario,  with  the  collabo- 
ration of  other  alienist  physicians  at  home  and  abroad. 

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Brush,  Sheppard  and  Enoch  Pratt  Hospital,  Station  A., 
Baltimore,  Md. 

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